It is safe to say that Atlanta Hawks rookie Jalen Johnson impressed the NBA world with his summer league performance. In fact, it was so good that he was named to the All-Summer League 1st team which is impressive for the 20th pick.
The best part about this is that Johnson was not just competing against his own rookie class. He was also competing against last season’s rookie class who did not get and summer league action last season. These guys have played a full NBA season and Johnson was better than a lot of them.
What this highlights is the depth of the Hawks roster. Johnson is probably going to struggle to get decent minutes in his rookie year because of the talent that the Hawks have on their roster. However, if the Hawks have the same level of injuries as last year, Johnson will not let them down.
The Atlanta Hawks will see a rise in confidence from Jalen Johnson
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It is possible that Johnson’s confidence may have suffered a little due to falling from a projected lottery pick to the 20th selection. This was in part due to him leaving his college team part of the way through a season but that is not going to happen with the Hawks, this is the NBA and he is now being paid to play basketball.
From everything that we have seen on the court so far, Johnson is a very committed basketball player. He is even getting the coaches to watch film with him between games so that he can improve. This is always a great sign in a younger player.
What this summer league performance showed us is that Johnson’s ceiling is difficult to determine. Everythign that he did seemed so effortless. He will be a really good fit for this team in both the short and long term.
Fortunately, we will all be able to witness Johnson’s growth as the Hawks have a really good player development unit. Expect Johnson to be pushing for regular minutes by the end of the season given what he has shown at summer league.